PRESENTATION BY :HESTI LINARTINUR ANISAMARIAMMERY ENDRIANIVINCENSIUS K.Y.DUAN

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CHAPTER 8LANGUAGE, THOUGHT, and CULTURE

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QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ANSWERED IN THIS CHAPTERDoes language

influence thought?Does it create

thought?Can we think

without language?Does language affect

our perception of nature and society?

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8.1. THE ARREST of THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERMeyer vs. Nebraska

Robert Meyer, a Zion Parochial school teacher in Hamilton County, Nebraska, was found guilty of violating a 1919 statute, Siman Act. His crime: teaching a Bible story in German to a ten-year-old child. The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld Meyer's conviction.

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A language by its very nature

represents the spirit and national

characters of a people

Wilhelm von Humboldt ; 1836

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8.2 Speech as the basis of thoughtAccordingly, thought is not something different from speech, but is actually a kind of speech that is not spoken aloud. It is speech that control what and how we think; thought does not control what we say.

Behaviourists

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“Thought is nothing but talking to ourselves and that this talking to ourselves originates from speaking aloud.”

John B. Watson1878 - 1958 7

“Thinking was a system of movements that had

been reduced from actual speech to speech to the point where they were no longer visible.”.

Leonard Bloomfield1887- 1958

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Gilbert Ryle1900-1976

“We should have previously learned to talk

intelligently aloud and have heard and

understood other people doing so.”

B.F. Skinner1904-1990

“Thought is not some mysterious process responsible for behavior but the very behavior itself.”

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8.3 Arguments against this idea

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8.3.1 in speech, understanding precedes production

Normal children learning a language understand speech before they are able to meaningfully produce it.

Researchers studying children have found that children’s understanding of speech is well in advance of their ability to produce it.

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This is a comb…,comb …

hair.. Got it?Dad, you

have said it hundreds times..!? I

understand, I just can’t say

it, daddy..

Bubu,,agaga..burp..

The children understand what was said to them because they did what they were told to do.

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.

Kiss baby.. Baby kiss..?

A child was taught to read and understand number of written words, phrases and sentences even before he had actually developed the ability to say them.

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Hmmm…. I see. Global warming..global

recession ,,,global TV…But how do I

pronounce these words anyway..??

The fact that children with little or no speech can understand speech or read what is written surely demonstrates that these children have formulated concepts and ideas – in short, are thinking.

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Since they have thought and since this thought did not originate in their being able to speak , one must conclude that speech production is not the basis of thought.

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8.3.2. Speech understanding by people with speech disabilities

Those born without the ability to speak, but who are otherwise intellectually normal, can learn to understand speech even though they cannot produce any.

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The case of Christopher Nolan"How do I overcome my muteness," he asks early on. His brain is crammed with words; there is no way for them to get out. The given of Under the Eye of the Clock is that what he calls "this mute" must get heard. But every time he and his mother try with the typewriter --- she holding his head, a stick tied to his forehead --- he misses the keys.

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Bells pealed in all the Dublin churches as midnight nudged home its bashful meaning to all the crazy longing. Christ the God-child now breathed a human breath. The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst man. Manger-cradled the Saviour lay. Midnight Mass marked the moment for Joseph; crested now with knowing, he marvelled at the nobility of the human person.http://www.ralphmag.org/AR/eye-of-clock.html

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8.3.3 Thinking while paralysed by a drugIn 1947, one group of

researchers (Smith, Brown, Thomas and Goodman) wondered what would happen to a person’s thought if the body were almost completely paralyzed.

They made a research and made a scientific point, thought was not dependant on body movements or movements of the organs of speech, because there were no movements, not even subliminal ones.

Speech-associated muscle movements

are not necessary for thought. 19

8.3.4 Talking about one thing while thinking about another Speaking about one thing and think about another at the same time or telling a lie are clear evidences that two distinct processes with different content, speech and thought, are occurring simultaneously.

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Goodbye, dear….this would be our last meeting…. Nice to know you.

I never want to leave you… please

stop me from walking out the

door. It s my ego that makes me

say this to you… I can’t live without

you

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Behaviourist doctrine, We would not be able to

think because our speech organs are

already in use.

1. Just because many of us talk aloud to ourselves while thinking, does not imply that we are using speech to think with.

2. Speech is simply a reflection of the thoughts we already have.

Does not fit

the facts

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We are only giving voice to our thoughts when we are speaking to ourselves. What we utter occurs after we have formed a thought. We often tend to speak aloud when no one else is around or we are under stress.

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8.4 Language as the basis of thought

“Language as a ‘tyrant’ that not only reflects experience, but which actually defines it , imposing upon as particulars and ideas about the world.”

Edward Sapir1884 - 1939

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“Language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas. We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language.”

Benjamin Lee Whorf1897-1941

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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Linguistic Relativism)

The language, with its grammatical rules and

vocabulary , forms thought, and that a particular language

imposes particular ideas of nature or one’s culture .

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z

Individuals, therefore, are the elementary particles of moral discourse. Our value is our taking individual responsibility for our lives, and our choices.

Yes. I absolutely agree with you, Mr. Brown.

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Individualism is equated with selfishness. Individual liberty lacks discipline and is suspect. It invites

disorder and is dangerous.

Your language had few words relating to time, and that this gave you radically different concepts of space

and time.

No, sir. You’re wrong. We live with time every moment of our lives, but not like the white man.

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APUN !POWDERSNOW!

QANICKA!

WETSNOW

!

UTAK! FLAKYSNOW

!

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These are light

colours….!!

These are dark

colours..!!

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Now, you understand that just because our

language has such limited repertoire of

colour terms it doesn’t mean we have perceptual

difficulty in distinguishing

colours.

Hmmm..i see…

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Ekkehart Malotki

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“People are not different because of their languages,

but because of their experiences. Deep down, we’re

all the same. It couldn’t be otherwise.”

The subject and predicate form of language ‘leads to the humanly

harmful, gross, macroscopic, brutalizing, biological, animalistic

types of orientations……such ‘Fuhrers” as different Hitlers,

Mussolinis, Stalins, etc.

Alfred Korzybski1879-1950

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The improper use of language causes damage to the brain and insanity, but that we could correct this situation through retraining the cell pathways in our brains by the proper use of language.

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X@,,,!!st?+zz(8**@hxx,,,!!!|%#V?’’’E##??,,h}\\\+r6y@@...

“Cure this lunatic’s

language and you can cure

him..!!”35

Takao Suzuki1926-

We recognize the fragments of the

universe as objects or properties only

through words…..without words

we could not even distinguish dogs from

cats…..

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Dogs and cats can tell each other apart even if they have no words for ‘cat’ and ‘dog’…..!!

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8.5 Arguments against thus idea 8.5.1 Deaf children without language can think

There are many deaf children who do not begin to acquire language until a rather late age, often after 3 or 4 years when they begin to attend special school.

But they behave just as intelligently and rationally with respect to their environment as do hearing children.

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If one holds that language is the basis for thought, one would have to argue that these children do not think and are either wild animals or automatons.

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If one holds that grammar determines how we analyze nature, then it must be argued that either the non-language deaf children cannot analyze nature or they do so radically differently from hearing children who do have language.

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The case of Helen Keller“We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honey-suckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten, a thrill of returning thought, and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.”http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_keller.hcsp

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8.5.2 Bilinguals are not schizoids

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“Bilingual persons who knew very different languages would have two

different or opposing views of reality.”

Benjamin Lee Whorf1897-1941

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My son is the best…!

いい子であると私たちは誇りに思うだろう(*be a good boy and you will make us proud)

Thanks, dad…  私は、お母さん。心配しな

いでください。 *( *i will, mom. do not worry.)

у вас будет сильным и мудрым человеком, когда вы выросли.*…(*u have to be strong and wise man when you are grown up.)

но я уже вырос, бабушку*(*but i am already grown up,grandma)

8.5.3 Creoles : new languages from old

Creole language is a language that has developed trough the contact of two established languages.

e.g ; An English Tibetan pidgin and An English with Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin ( Talk Pidgin ).

Languages could only blend into a creole if the original component languages represented similar perceptions and thoughts.

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TOK PISIN (TALK PIDGIN), the official language of Papua New Guinea, is a

prime example of entirely different languages becoming a creole.

English blended with native New Guinea

languages to produce a new language.

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GRAS…!! GRAS..!! GRAS..!!

GRAS = GRASS=HAIR=FEATH

ER..??

Creoles actually have developed with the English Language (and other European languages, as well) and other languages in

Melanesia, Africa, and elsewhere.

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EVIDENCE…!!!Basic perception and basic thought are shared

in some non-linguistic form by humans

everywhere

8.6 Where language does affect thoughtWhile language is neither the basis of

thought nor is necessary for the functioning of thought, language can affect thought once thought is established.

1.Language may be used to provide us with new ideas.

2.Language is also used to bring about a change in beliefs or values.

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1. Provide new ideasLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN WAS A GOOD

FOOTBALL PLAYER, WHEN HE WAS SOBER.

Novel (new) sentences such as this do not involve novel words or grammatical rules. What is novel is their arrangements.

Thus, such sentences are created and understood on the basis of the speaker already knows about the language in terms of its grammar and vocabulary.

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2. Bring about a change in beliefs or valuesWhat has really become different between people who have undergone religious or political conversion is not their basic logical processing or conceptual categories, but the truth and attractiveness values which they attach to certain ideas.

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Examples :a.People become convinced, through the

medium of language, that the world is round instead of flat.

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The Earth is a sphere…and..blah..blah..blah…

Do you understand , my students?

After listening to your

explanation, we believe in your

idea, Mr. Ptolemeus.

I thought it was

flat

b. People are swayed to and away from capitalism or communism by attaching, through the medium of language, new emotions and values to these ideological systems.

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They do not think differently, they have different values and goals.

People may be persuaded to change, and though we might say that they are ‘thinking differently’, what has really changed are their values and goals.

What they previously regarded as bad or false, they may now think of as good or true, or vice versa.

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8.7 Thought as the basis of language8.7.1 The non-linguistic origin of meaning A non-linguistic meaning is an actual or

possible derivation from sentence, which is not associated with signs that have any original or primary intent of communication. It is a general term of art used to capture a number of different senses of the word "meaning", independently from its linguistic uses.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Meaning_(non-linguistic)

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Four main ways in acquiring meaning from words

Acquiring meaning

A sound form associated with an object, situation or event in the

world

A sound form associated with an idea or experience in the

mind

An analysis of known component morpheme

A linguistic description or linguistic context

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A sound form associated with an object, situation, or event.

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Ok, guys….that is what we call

“TREE”…Now, everybody

say “TREE”..!

TREE…!!!TREE

!!

A sound form associated with an idea or experience in the mind

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Hiks….i feel something

wrong in my stomach,,,,is this

what mommy means with

“HUNGRY”..?!

The ultimate source of meaning is based on experience of the world and mind, experiences which are of a non-linguistic nature. Ideas and concept are created in the mind by a process that is independent of language.

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Yippiii…. I am having a new experience. I never thought

that the world is bigger…oh,, the world has a big yellow shiny lamp on its

blue roof….

8.7.2 The true relationship between language and thoughtThe relationship between language and

thought is that the thought system in the mind has its origin in sources that are distinct from language.

Thought is sufficiently developed through the child’s experience of objects, events and situation in the world so, the language begin to be learned.

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John Locke 1632-1704

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“The relationship between language and thought is such that thought is independent of language, which language deriving from thought.”

LANGUAGE CAN THEREBY FULFIL ITS PRIMARY ROLE, WHICH IS AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE

EXPRESSION OR COMMUNICATION OF THOUGHT

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CONCLUSIONThe majority of our everyday life involves the

use of language. We tell our ideas to others with language, we “read” their responses and understand their meanings with language, and very often, we “speak” internally to ourselves when we process this information and make logical conclusions.

Language is a carrier of thought, just like water is to water waves. Without water acting as a medium, water waves cannot possibly exist.

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